


one & only

by nico (namgiluvr)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adashicember 2018, Brotherly Bonding, Fluff, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Pep Talk, Stargazing, fuck voltron my city now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 15:49:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17083220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namgiluvr/pseuds/nico
Summary: Maybe if Shiro prayed hard enough, the stars would align themselves to his luck. Only they knew how much he loved Adam, and how nerve-racking planning a marriage proposal was.





	one & only

**Author's Note:**

> let's start by saying fuck Voltron you [bass boosted] SUCK! anyway even tho I skrted out of vld after s7 I hated how ugly adashi was done even in s8 so uh. my city now here's an adashi proposal ft. broganes bc fuck sheiths y'all ugly. 
> 
> this is prompt #20 of adashicember aka "proposal"!! big kudos to olyn for arranging this amazing project <3
> 
> title is from loona's gowon's single bc i'm a kpoppie and what about it loonarmys follow me on twitter @outrolyt

If Shiro paced the room a bit more, he might just engrave a race track on the floor. 

He kept glancing at the clock on the kitchen wall, anxiously waiting for the arrows to reach 3pm, hour in which Keith got out of classes. Shiro could pull him out of class, being an instructor and all, but he didn’t want to interrupt Keith’s learning with one of his existential crises. On the other hand, there was a high chance Keith was actually asleep in class and hoping for someone to take him out of the classroom.

Shiro groaned and flopped himself on the orange sofa that occupied a large space of the living room, reaching for his pocket. He took out the reason for his anxiousness and examined it closely. He didn’t dare open the box. If he did, he probably would completely close off the idea he came up with and act as if nothing had happened. 

Adam wasn’t going to be home until 5pm —curse his Piloting 122 after-class group, as if he wasn’t busy enough already—, time Shiro had to talk to Keith about this crazy idea. Or maybe not so crazy. He sighed and put the box back in his pocket. He needed Keith’s input.  
“— fuck this goddamn door and its stupid lock that doesn’t open. I’m gonna deck Shiro for not fixing this bullshit.” Keith opened the door with a bang, fumbling to get the key out of the lock. After a push and a kick, he managed to take it out, closing the door with the same force as the one he opened it with. 

“Language, Keith,” chided Shiro. On another day he might have said it more seriously, but today his voice was weak. 

Keith jumped at the sound and turned, looking at Shiro with wide eyes. Shiro knew he didn’t expect him to be home. Keith got home at 3pm, Shiro at 4, and Adam at 5. It was their routine. 

“What are you doing here?” asked Keith throwing his bag on the bar stool nearest to the door. 

“Hello, Shiro. How was your day? Good, thanks for asking, Keith. How was yours?” said Shiro in a mocking voice, crossing his arms and pretending to look annoyed. 

Keith rolled his eyes and took off his boots, putting them near his bag. He walked over to the fridge, opened it, and rummaged through its insides. “As a matter of fact, bad.”

Shiro forgot about his own problems and focused on Keith, walking over to the kitchen and sitting on a bar stool. “What happened?”

“So, I got late to my first class and the teacher didn’t let me in, even if I was there literally two minutes after the bell rang — sorry if they call you for that, I guess—. Also, Iverson rescheduled our piloting simulation and now we have to wait another two weeks for it, and on top he said we have another damn test in two days. Oh, not to forget that it’s a paired test and I got paired with Lance.”

“Lance, your boyfriend?” 

Keith closed the door and scowled at Shiro, dropping a galon of milk and a cereal box on the isle. “He is not my boyfriend. I literally thought his name was Taylor for the past year. Besides, he’s just annoying.”

“He can be your boyfriend and still be annoying. Look at Adam.”

Keith snorted and proceeded to get a bowl from the kitchenette. “Adam could drop a bucket of cold water on your face while you sleep and you’d still be set on giving him the whole universe.”

Shiro laughed and shook his head, but there was no point in denying it. A bucket of cold water was nothing compared to how much he loved Adam. So much, he might just run all the way to his classroom and—.  
No. He needed to talk to Keith first. Make sure that this was a reasonable idea. Make sure the stars weren’t falling and the Earth was still spinning.

“— shit, fuck, dickhead, asshole, dumbass, goddamn.”

Shiro frowned and looked up at Keith, who was waving a hand in front of him, the other holding a plate full of cereal. “Keith, I told you already, language.”

“English,” he retorted. Shiro rolled his eyes. “You zoned out over there. Everything okay?”

Shiro sighed and shook his head, shoulders slumping. Keith frowned and walked around the isle to sit beside Shiro, nodding at him to talk while he chews on his food. Shiro inhaled deeply and took the small, velvety black box out of his pocket and put it in front of Keith, expecting it to explain everything. Apparently, it did, because Keith’s eyes went wide open and dropped the spoon, hands reaching for the item.

“Oh, Jesus, are you—? Shit, when did you get this?” He opened the box and whistled appreciatively. “Woah, okay, you’re being serious. Respect.”

Shiro rolled his eyes once more, his body mirroring the movement, and took the box out of Keith’s hands, who protested quietly before turning back to the cereal. He placed the box in front of him and put his head between his hands. “I just— I don’t know. That’s why I’m here earlier, cause I wanted to talk to you, see if it’s a good idea.” He turned to Keith. “Is it too soon?”

“Shiro, what the hell, you two have known each other since you were like, sixteen, and have been a couple since—” Keith raised his left hand and wiggled his fingers, face contorted in concentration. “Ah, forget it, I’m bad at math. Thing is, no, I don’t think four years as boyfriends is ‘too soon’”.

“When you put it like that, it sounds like I’m dragging things out.”

Keith shrugged, mouth full. “Maybe you are.”

“Gee, thanks for the support,” said Shiro. He then buried his head between his arms on the isle and moaned. 

“Listen, I don’t know what I can say to help you, but it’s not a bad idea,” assured Keith patting him on the shoulder. “I think it’s amazing, really. ‘Cause you two have been there for each other since forever, do things together, work better together. Remember when you told Adam you were taking care of me? He didn’t find it weird, you picking up an orphan and raising him or anything. Instead he stayed and helped you. Not only with me but with everything else. He made you a better person. And you made him a better person. You grow and change and adapt together. And you love each other a lot. And, I don’t know, but that seems like pretty much all you need for this” — he pointed at the box— “to work out. I think you should go for it.” 

Shiro stayed silent for a few moments, letting Keith’s words sink in. Adam and he did work better together. And they were there for each other always, no matter the circumstances. And they helped each other grow. He remembered the day before he had to test for an instructor certification, and Adam helped him study for it, arranging a whole study session, and how proud he had been when Shiro passed the test. And it happened the same way for Adam, too. Shiro kept cheering him on, trying his best to help Adam, holding his hand and making him tea and soup when he needed it. They knew how each other worked, their mannerisms, likes and dislikes, how a shift of a hand could mean a mood change. They were perfect for each other. They were two parts of one soul. And neither was going to find what they had anywhere else.  
Slowly, Shiro lifted his head, nodding at Keith. He took the box and closed it, then put it in his pocket, determined to pull it out again and put it on Adam’s ring finger. He looked at Keith, who was grinning, a line of milk staining his upper lip, and nodded purposefully.  
“I’m gonna do it.”

Keith let out a whoop and nudged Shiro in the arm. “Great! A big step in Garrison history, no doubt. Professor Shirogane and Professor Shirogane, officially married.”

Shiro flushed and pushed Keith off his stool. He fell to the floor with it, letting out an “ow!”. “Shut up, I don’t even know if he wants to take my last name.”

“Of course he will. Adam Shirogane. Makes him sound authoritative, and he likes that.”

Shiro rolled his eyes and stood up, extending a hand to Keith. He took it and jumped up, dusting off his uniform. “You should invite your boyfriend to the wedding, see if it pushes Lance to take another ‘big step in Garrison history’.”

Keith blushed angrily and slapped his hand on the isle. “He is not my boyfriend!”

Shiro could only laugh in delight. He didn’t have the energy to keep teasing Keith, though. He had a proposal to plan. 

————— 

Shiro shivered under his coat, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to stay warm. Why, why was the desert so hot during the day and freezing cold at night? There was probably a scientific explanation for it, but Shiro’s worrying brain couldn’t grasp for the answer. Only one answer kept surfacing in his brain, and it wasn’t his to say. His job was to ask the question. 

He glanced at the watch on his wrist, the orange shining bright in the night. Five minutes. He told Adam to meet him on the campus’s gate at 10pm, but knowing him he would arrive five minutes before. Better early than late, he always said. Shiro smiled. Adam would probably arrive five hours earlier to his own wedding, standing at the altar before the priest had even woken up. 

Shiro shook his head, dismissing the thought. He was getting ahead of himself. 

“Any reason we’re standing here like teenagers breaking curfew?”

He looked up and was met with Adam’s hazel-green eyes watching him carefully behind rectangle-shaped glasses. He had his arms wrapped around his torso, and a bright green scarf around his neck muffled his voice. Shiro smiled and took a step towards him.

“Maybe I just wanted to feel young again,” he said, grabbing one of Adam’s hands and threading his fingers through his. 

Adam rolled his eyes. “You’re literally 23, don’t come at me with the cheesy rom-com movie lines.” 

Shiro stuck his tongue out and smiled, then leaned down to kiss Adam. His boyfriend smiled and kissed him back, the hand that wasn’t holding Shiro’s slipping through his hair. Shiro hummed happily before remembering his task for the night, stepping back and leaving Adam with a confused expression. 

“There’s something we have to do,” announced Shiro. He let go of Adam’s hand and took out a ring of keys from the pocket that didn’t have the little box. He looked up for a moment and prayed the stars wouldn’t fall tonight, but instead would align themselves for his luck. 

Shiro opened the gate ever so slowly, trying to mantain the squeaking at a minimum. The last thing he needed was for the guards positioned around the campus to ruin his plan. He suddenly did feel like a teenager, when Adam and him would sneak out of the Garrison just to drive far into the desert and watch the stars, their hands barely a centimeter apart but feeling like they were thousands of miles away.

“C’mon, this way,” Shiro said, waving a hand for Adam to follow him. His boyfriend frowned but did as he was told, walking silently besides Shiro.

“What are we doing? Did Keith sneak out again? Took your car? Got into a fight?” Adam shot question after question, tugging at Shiro’s sleeve when he didn’t answer.

“Why do you have such low standards for Keith?” asked Shiro with a smile. He glanced at Adam, who pouted before slapping a tree branch aside. 

“I’m not being exaggerated, Takashi; you do realize he did all of those things when he was 12? At this age, I wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to join a purple suit-wearing squad of alien ninjas.” 

Shiro snorted and turned to the left. A path opened up between the dry bushes, marked by thousands of footsteps that went and came through the years. “Why purple?” 

Adam remained silent for a few seconds before answering. “It’d suit him. Better than that ugly red and yellow cropped jacket he always wears. The googles and red hoodie were better.”

“You know it just fuels Keith’s rebellious streak whenever you say that.”

“I’m just looking after him, seriously.”

Shiro chuckled and linked his arm through Adam’s, who rested his head on Shiro’s shoulder. He sighed happily, now more convinced than ever of this idea. He loved Adam too much, and proposing to him was a step in the right direction. He just hoped Adam would think the same. 

“Anything interesting today?” asked Shiro. He didn’t want Adam’s fast mind to catch up onto what he was trying to do. 

“Yes, this,” he answered, poking Shiro’s arm. 

“Be patient.”

“Ironic, coming from the man that can’t cook because he can’t wait for the food to be ready.”

“There’s a reason I let you do the groceries.”

“And you still choose half of them. Power imbalance.”

Shiro laughed and tugged Adam to the right. The air was now colder and moisture, the smell of sand mixed with something else. Anticipation. Who would have thought anticipation had a smell? But the smell got thicker as Shiro kept walking, the knot in his stomach growing. He looked up, and the stars weren’t there anymore.

“Oh, my God. Are you going to murder me?” asked Adam in a dramatic tone, jumping away from Shiro. The absence of Adam’s warm body pressed against his side left him even colder than before.

“Adam, what the hell,” he replied with a chuckle, grasping his boyfriend’s arm and hugging him from behind, chest against back. Adam wriggled a bit before giving up.

“We’re in a cave in the middle of the night, with no lights and no one else around us. Pardon me for thinking that,️” huffed Adam. He put his feet on top of Shiro’s, letting him walk them together while still hugging. 

“Adam, we have lived together for the past seven years or so, and we sleep in the same bed. Why would I kill you in a cave?”

He hummed in thought, then clicked his tongue. “So poor Keith doesn’t have to bear his brother’s crimes.”

“And those are?” asked Shiro. He let go off Adam, since the path here was more inclined and he couldn’t climb it with both of their weights. Adam glanced up, and Shiro could see that curiosity was killing him. Adam didn’t know this part of the outer campus. To be fair, Shiro wouldn’t have either, if it weren’t for Keith accidentally telling him about the cave. Shiro had scolded him about sneaking out for five whole seconds before realizing that this might be the perfect place to propose. 

“Being pretty,” Adam replied. Shiro blushed slightly.

“Aw, you think I’m pretty?”

“— and annoying, and a bad cook, and a horrible driver—”

“You take that back!”

“— and a blanket-hogging thief. I could go on.” 

Shiro mumbled a curse under his breath, walking past Adam to reach the top of the cave. The stars were there, waiting for them. Deciding whether to fall or align themselves. “I don’t hog the blanket.”

“No, you just claim it for yourself,” snorted Adam. 

Shiro rolled his eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him up for the remaining of the path. Adam dust off his pants —dramatic— and feigned wiping sweat off his forehead —theatrics—, his face bearing an annoyed look before morphing into a surprised one. His mouth fell open and his eyes widened, taking their surroundings. 

Keith had said the place was good for relaxing and taking off the edge of life, but Shiro thought it was more than that. It was a doorway to space. A pool of water extended in front of them, the surface reflecting back the night sky and all of its stars, creating an illusion of floating through space. The rock walls at its side glinted in a silver hue. The stars were all around them, hugging them tightly. And they were standing still, thought Shiro. They still hadn’t fell. 

“This— Shiro, how did you know about this place?” whispered Adam, walking in a slow circle, his glasses reflecting back the sky just like the water. 

Shiro shrugged. “I just knew.”

Adam squinted and turned his gaze to Shiro. “Don’t be cryptic with me, Takashi.”

Shiro just rolled his eyes with a smile and took Adam’s hands, guiding him to a corner near one of the rock walls, where a telescope stood facing the sky. Thanks, Keith, thought Shiro with relief. He had told his brother to sneak out one of the telescopes from the Garrison and bring it here. If anyone knew how to do that with success, it was Keith. 

“I’m not; seriously, I just found it.”

“For the record, I don’t believe you, but I’ll let it slide for tonight,” promised Adam. Shiro positioned him behind the telescope, his hands sliding down to his boyfriend’s waist. He leaned down and whispered, “Look.”

Adam shot him a skeptical look before leaning down to the telescope. Shiro held his breath, slyly letting go of Adam’s waist and putting his hands in his pockets. One hand grabbed the small box and the other clenched and unclenched anxiously.

“This… wow,” he heard Adam breathe out. His hands were grasping the telescope tightly, shifting it just the tiniest angle to the side, taking in everything around them. With no moon, the stars shone brighter than ever, and Shiro knew Adam would be lost in them.

“Bet you can’t spot thirty constellations under one minute,” challenged Shiro, trying to keep his voice as normal as he could. He hoped Adam would take the bait, otherwise he’d have to heavily improvise.

Adam looked up and squinted at Shiro. “Was that a challenge I heard?”

Shiro grinned. Adam never let go a challenge, much less if it was issued by Shiro, and for that he took advantage.

“Maybe. Will you do it?”

Adam huffed. “Oh, I will, Takashi, but I’ll name twice as that.” Then he leaned down and started naming constellation after constellation with barely a breath between them, stars they both learned to spot years ago on the roof of the Garrison, when Shiro thought it was more likely for the sky to fall than for Adam to like him back. 

He was wrong back then, and he hoped he’d have the same luck tonight. 

Taking a step backwards, he let Adam rant about twin constellations like Artemis and Apollo’s, his voice fading as Shiro walked to one of the rock walls. He patted along the rim of a stone, looking for a flat area to put the black box on. He cursed when he almost slipped into the lake, then looked back to where Adam was standing, sure that his boyfriend had heard him. No sign of that, though. Adam was still naming constellations like his life depended on it. Truth be told, Shiro hoped all of those divine beings he was naming would be on his side that night, right there in that corner of the universe.

He found a clear spot on the stone and put the box on it, opening it so Adam would be able to spot it. Shiro stepped back and jogged towards his boyfriend, who was clearly out of breath but persistently kept ranting out constellations. Shiro smiled fondly. He loved Adam. 

“—Nightshade! Boom, 59 constellations in one minute! Can you do that, Takashi?” asked Adam turning around and smiling wide. His glasses were bent to one side for pressing them against the telescope, and his chest heaved up and down in the look for normalizing his breath, but Shiro had never seen a more beautiful sight.

He took a step forward until he was pressed to Adam, nose against nose. “Ah, but I said thirty, and then you said you’d double it up, so if my math isn’t off, that should be sixty.”

Adam scoffed. “Well, your math is wrong then; pretty sure it’s 59.”

“Don’t worry, I can show you even brighter stars.”

“Why is that both equal parts cheesy and borderline sexual innuendo—”

“Adam!” hissed Shiro before breaking into fits of giggles. Adam followed him, and soon they were out of breath with tears hanging from their eyelashes due to the laughter. 

Shiro straightened up trying to regain his breath. He looked at Adam, who was still laughing loudly, hands on his hips and bending forward. He loved him. Loved him to the point where his chest hurt with so much love and he felt like he might combust any moment. Loved him enough to travel across the universe and come back with a new moon if it meant being besides Adam. Loved him to no end.

“Maybe there’s a star that you haven’t seen,” said Shiro. Adam looked at him skeptically but made his way to the telescope. 

“Unless you just literally birthed a star, I don’t think there’s a st—What’s that?”

Shiro held his breath and just waited. Waited for Adam to realize what he meant. What he found. Nonetheless, each passing second of silence just made his heart beat faster with anticipation and anxiety. For a moment, he thought he could hear the stars scraping against the night sky.  
“You—Hold on.” Adam pushed aside the telescope and jogged directly to where the ring was placed. Shiro stayed back, unable to move even if he wanted to, and just watched as his boyfriend tip toed his way around the ledge and took the box. Once realization dawned on him, he looked at Shiro fast enough to almost lose his balance and fall into the lake, but his grip on the ledge was strong enough to prevent him from doing so. 

“Careful not to drown,” advised Shiro, trying to hide his nervousness behind a joke, but the words came out shakily and low. Adam just stared at him from afar, box in his hand and his mind who-knew-where. He blinked once slowly, making sure he was still there, then ran back to Shiro in a heartbeat.

“Please tell me you just didn’t bring me into this deserted corner of the universe to do this,” he asked quietly. Even with his glasses on, Shiro could see Adam’s eyes shining with tears behind them. He took the ring out of the box in Adam’s hands and kneeled, cursing in his head when a jagged piece of rock hit him on the knee. Shiro didn’t budge though. It was now or never.

“I—I had no idea how to do this. I still don’t, so sorry if I make no sense but I just—I just needed to. Needed to let you know. I love you so much, and I know you know this but I don’t think you know how much I do love you, like—ugh,” Shiro groaned and Adam laughed, his hand making its way to Shiro’s shoulder, trying to let him know it was okay. “I don’t know if it’s the right time, I don’t know if this is okay, because I don’t know—What do I not know? I don’t know a lot of things, I don’t know what’s in outer space, I don’t know the gravitational force between Jupiter and Mars—you probably would—I don’t know whether we’d be here tomorrow or if I’m gonna be taken away by aliens, I don’t know if this will work out.” Shiro swallowed a sob and looked up. He ended up ranting, completely the contrary of what he had planned to do, but his heart was threatening to spill out of his throat and he didn’t know how to stop it.

“All I know is that life without you would be meaningless. Ever since I met you, I feel like you’re the one making the world spin and the sun shine. You’re the only person capable of swipe me off my feet with just one word. You’re the only one I’d let break my neck and with one last gasping breath I’d apologize for bleeding on your shirt.” Adam let out a watery laugh, remembering the old joke they had regarding that comment. “All of my standards—they’re set to you. You’re the only one I wanted, the only one I want, the only one I’ll ever want. So I’m just—I’m asking you not to marry me, but to please let me be the one to hold the privilege of being in your heart.” 

Shiro closed his eyes, not wanting to know what Adam’s reaction is, bracing himself for rejection. Maybe he shouldn’t have done this. Maybe he should have just let things be. Not rush things and just—

“Takashi, look at me,” whispered Adam. Shiro looked up, Adam’s fingers under his chin, making him unable to look away. “You’ve been in my heart since the moment I laid eyes on you, and nothing will ever change that.  
Adam tugged Shiro up, so he raised and willed himself to not shy away from Adam’s eyes. “You, Takashi Shirogane, are my one and only, forever and always.”

And then Adam was kissing him. Shiro’s mind was in sensory overload. He said yes? Not a no? Yes or yes? Shiro wanted to ask for a clarification, but Adam’s kiss and his hands on Shiro’s neck were enough answer for him. 

“So,” Adam whispered, his lips only a hair’s width away from Shiro’s. “does this mean I get to be professor Shirogane too?”

Shiro laughed and looked up, Adam’s head falling onto the crook of his neck in laughter. Regardless of his prayers, one star did fall off from the sky. Not on that night, but years before. 

Shiro found himself holding that same star in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! ps if you spotted the twice reference you're amazing


End file.
